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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Secret settlements, judgments at TDCJ totaled millions

Every legal settlement and judgment paid by the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice in recent years has been deemed confidential according to a report over the weekend from Eric Dexheimer and Andrea Ball at the Austin Statesman. Here's an excerpt from their article about TDCJ, including how the reporters got around the confidentiality provisions:

From fiscal 2009 through the first part of 2015, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice paid more than 600 legal claims worth nearly $4.5 million. According to the comptroller’s office, all are considered confidential.

The department’s assistant general counsel, Patricia Fleming, conceded that many of its settlements should be public, saying it was unclear why they showed up as confidential in comptroller records. But she added other payments involved inmates, and, she said, state law prohibited the agency from releasing anything other than basic information about prisoners. The agency has asked the attorney general, who settles open records disputes, to rule on the issue.

While they’re waiting for that decision, however, citizens can find all the information through a back door that even many state officials acknowledged they knew nothing about. A recurring instruction in the state’s biennial budgets instructs the attorney general’s office to report monthly to the Legislative Budget Board every settlement and judgment payment it processes.

According to those documents, obtained by the Statesman under Texas open records laws, the corrections agency has paid many legal judgments to noninmates — meaning there is no obvious reason for their confidentiality. In April 2012, for example, it paid Helotes resident James Benke $75,000 “when TDCJ inmates improperly cut down trees on their property, and caused other trees to die from oak wilt.” Reached by phone, Benke declined to discuss the incident.

Other records show why such information can be important to an informed public. According to the documents, a year ago the prison agency paid $152,000 to settle a case in which inmate David Beceril claimed guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville hadn’t protected him from a savage beating by another prisoner. In November, Legislative Budget Board records show the criminal justice agency paid $147,500 to settle a claim filed by former inmate Joe Hill III, who said a beating he’d received from guards at the McConnell Unit in Beeville in March 2010 had left him permanently disabled.

From
fiscal 2009 through the first part of 2015, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice paid more than 600 legal claims worth nearly $4.5
million. According to the comptroller’s office, all are considered
confidential.
The department’s assistant general counsel, Patricia Fleming,
conceded that many of its settlements should be public, saying it was
unclear why they showed up as confidential in comptroller records. But
she added other payments involved inmates, and, she said, state law
prohibited the agency from releasing anything other than basic
information about prisoners. The agency has asked the attorney general,
who settles open records disputes, to rule on the issue.
While they’re waiting for that decision, however, citizens can find
all the information through a back door that even many state officials
acknowledged they knew nothing about. A recurring instruction in the
state’s biennial budgets instructs the attorney general’s office to
report monthly to the Legislative Budget Board every settlement and
judgment payment it processes.
According to those documents, obtained by the Statesman under Texas
open records laws, the corrections agency has paid many legal judgments
to noninmates — meaning there is no obvious reason for their
confidentiality. In April 2012, for example, it paid Helotes resident
James Benke $75,000 “when TDCJ inmates improperly cut down trees on
their property, and caused other trees to die from oak wilt.” Reached by
phone, Benke declined to discuss the incident.
Other records show why such information can be important to an
informed public. According to the documents, a year ago the prison
agency paid $152,000 to settle a case in which inmate David Beceril
claimed guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville hadn’t protected him
from a savage beating by another prisoner. In November, Legislative
Budget Board records show the criminal justice agency paid $147,500 to
settle a claim filed by former inmate Joe Hill III, who said a beating
he’d received from guards at the McConnell Unit in Beeville in March
2010 had left him permanently disabled.
- See more at:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional/state-incorrectly-obscures-millions-of-dollars-in-/nkW67/?icmp=mystatesman_internallink_megamenu_link#f303cb80.3559866.7356

From
fiscal 2009 through the first part of 2015, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice paid more than 600 legal claims worth nearly $4.5
million. According to the comptroller’s office, all are considered
confidential.
The department’s assistant general counsel, Patricia Fleming,
conceded that many of its settlements should be public, saying it was
unclear why they showed up as confidential in comptroller records. But
she added other payments involved inmates, and, she said, state law
prohibited the agency from releasing anything other than basic
information about prisoners. The agency has asked the attorney general,
who settles open records disputes, to rule on the issue.
While they’re waiting for that decision, however, citizens can find
all the information through a back door that even many state officials
acknowledged they knew nothing about. A recurring instruction in the
state’s biennial budgets instructs the attorney general’s office to
report monthly to the Legislative Budget Board every settlement and
judgment payment it processes.
According to those documents, obtained by the Statesman under Texas
open records laws, the corrections agency has paid many legal judgments
to noninmates — meaning there is no obvious reason for their
confidentiality. In April 2012, for example, it paid Helotes resident
James Benke $75,000 “when TDCJ inmates improperly cut down trees on
their property, and caused other trees to die from oak wilt.” Reached by
phone, Benke declined to discuss the incident.
Other records show why such information can be important to an
informed public. According to the documents, a year ago the prison
agency paid $152,000 to settle a case in which inmate David Beceril
claimed guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville hadn’t protected him
from a savage beating by another prisoner. In November, Legislative
Budget Board records show the criminal justice agency paid $147,500 to
settle a claim filed by former inmate Joe Hill III, who said a beating
he’d received from guards at the McConnell Unit in Beeville in March
2010 had left him permanently disabled.
- See more at:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional/state-incorrectly-obscures-millions-of-dollars-in-/nkW67/?icmp=mystatesman_internallink_megamenu_link#f303cb80.3559866.735674

From
fiscal 2009 through the first part of 2015, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice paid more than 600 legal claims worth nearly $4.5
million. According to the comptroller’s office, all are considered
confidential.
The department’s assistant general counsel, Patricia Fleming,
conceded that many of its settlements should be public, saying it was
unclear why they showed up as confidential in comptroller records. But
she added other payments involved inmates, and, she said, state law
prohibited the agency from releasing anything other than basic
information about prisoners. The agency has asked the attorney general,
who settles open records disputes, to rule on the issue.
While they’re waiting for that decision, however, citizens can find
all the information through a back door that even many state officials
acknowledged they knew nothing about. A recurring instruction in the
state’s biennial budgets instructs the attorney general’s office to
report monthly to the Legislative Budget Board every settlement and
judgment payment it processes.
According to those documents, obtained by the Statesman under Texas
open records laws, the corrections agency has paid many legal judgments
to noninmates — meaning there is no obvious reason for their
confidentiality. In April 2012, for example, it paid Helotes resident
James Benke $75,000 “when TDCJ inmates improperly cut down trees on
their property, and caused other trees to die from oak wilt.” Reached by
phone, Benke declined to discuss the incident.
Other records show why such information can be important to an
informed public. According to the documents, a year ago the prison
agency paid $152,000 to settle a case in which inmate David Beceril
claimed guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville hadn’t protected him
from a savage beating by another prisoner. In November, Legislative
Budget Board records show the criminal justice agency paid $147,500 to
settle a claim filed by former inmate Joe Hill III, who said a beating
he’d received from guards at the McConnell Unit in Beeville in March
2010 had left him permanently disabled.
- See more at:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional/state-incorrectly-obscures-millions-of-dollars-in-/nkW67/?icmp=mystatesman_internallink_megamenu_link#f303cb80.3559866.735674

From
fiscal 2009 through the first part of 2015, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice paid more than 600 legal claims worth nearly $4.5
million. According to the comptroller’s office, all are considered
confidential.
The department’s assistant general counsel, Patricia Fleming,
conceded that many of its settlements should be public, saying it was
unclear why they showed up as confidential in comptroller records. But
she added other payments involved inmates, and, she said, state law
prohibited the agency from releasing anything other than basic
information about prisoners. The agency has asked the attorney general,
who settles open records disputes, to rule on the issue.
While they’re waiting for that decision, however, citizens can find
all the information through a back door that even many state officials
acknowledged they knew nothing about. A recurring instruction in the
state’s biennial budgets instructs the attorney general’s office to
report monthly to the Legislative Budget Board every settlement and
judgment payment it processes.
According to those documents, obtained by the Statesman under Texas
open records laws, the corrections agency has paid many legal judgments
to noninmates — meaning there is no obvious reason for their
confidentiality. In April 2012, for example, it paid Helotes resident
James Benke $75,000 “when TDCJ inmates improperly cut down trees on
their property, and caused other trees to die from oak wilt.” Reached by
phone, Benke declined to discuss the incident.
Other records show why such information can be important to an
informed public. According to the documents, a year ago the prison
agency paid $152,000 to settle a case in which inmate David Beceril
claimed guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville hadn’t protected him
from a savage beating by another prisoner. In November, Legislative
Budget Board records show the criminal justice agency paid $147,500 to
settle a claim filed by former inmate Joe Hill III, who said a beating
he’d received from guards at the McConnell Unit in Beeville in March
2010 had left him permanently disabled.
- See more at:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional/state-incorrectly-obscures-millions-of-dollars-in-/nkW67/?icmp=mystatesman_internallink_megamenu_link#f303cb80.3559866.735674

3 comments:

He's Innocent
said...

Sadly, this will only reveal settlements that are successful, not the ones that are able to be covered up by TDCJ.

When an inmate is horse kicked by a guard in the groin and now is in chronic pain, somehow this is not seen as a violation of civil rights. It went to Federal court where TDCJ was able to effectively coach the guard to answer in a manner that absolved her of any wrongdoing.

Prison and abuse are not the answer people. For the love of God, *when* are regular folk going to see this?

It's called Bribery for a reason (to avoid confusing the criminal act with the everyday 'bidness' as usual condoned acts of making non-criminal things go away, like auto accidents, slip and fall).

When a crime victim is offered money to go away, that's a crime. When a crime victim accepts money to go away, he / she becomes a party to a crime. When a (non-inmate) crime victim allows the ADA, the CDL, and the Judge to plea bargain with criminals out of court and off the record and confidentially vs allowing the criminal justice system process to conclude via: a full jury trial to verdict, we get and accept a bastardized version of criminal justice.

*Taxpayers, it's your money and that makes you collective participants in a statewide conspiracy to commit a laundry listing of crimes. Real lawyers are invited to name a few and maybe one will step up and name the individuals responsible for allowing the crime(s) Grits has brought to our attention. So far its the State or TDCJ being called out by Eric & Andrea as a if individuals are not committing crimes in efforts to hide it all from everyone.

Step 1. - allow the Hoe Squad to do what you and your family before you allowed them to do for decades, clear your fence line, swamps and creek beds of brush and trees. Pro Bono. Record them yelling Down Up Down Up Down and Timber! and your cows get paid for being disoriented and disabled.

Step 2. - when they are finished, take photos of the tree stumps and piles of debris and submit a claim to your buddy over at the Unit. He'll forward it to his buddy at the cafe on Main Street. They say you can just Text it in.

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